A Marana Town Council meeting turned tense earlier this month as council members and residents clashed over a planned ICE detention facility, with elected officials accusing critics of hateful rhetoric even as opponents warned the project echoes historical patterns of authoritarian scapegoating.

The facility was purchased from the state in July 2025 by the Utah-based Management and Training Corporation, one of several for-profit prison companies that have been contracted by ICE to run detention facilities. The building, which MTC constructed in the 1990s, was a minimum-custody prison before closing in 2023.

In a July 31 Instagram post, Pima Resists ICE encouraged Marana residents to attend the August 4 Marana Town Council meeting wearing orange shirts in protest. Several residents responded to the call to action and addressed council members during the meeting.

Marana resident and Pima Resists ICE member Dennis Shannon compared the tactics and rhetoric of the Trump administration to fascism, saying they were similar to the fascist governments of Germany, Italy and Spain in the early 20th century.

"They used intense nationalism," he said. "They used creating fear, convincing the people that they had to be afraid of everything and that their party was the only one that could save them from those fabricated fears. (They used) racism and, of course, a scapegoat group."

Shannon became emotional as he spoke, taking a long pause and apologizing before telling the council he was distressed.

"I've been befuddled by this town council," Shannon said. "We've heard testimony of heartwrenching inhumanity being perpetrated. We've heard the incompetence of (MTC). And we've heard the adverse effect that this detention center will have on Marana, and yet we just ignore all of those things and take no action."

Marana resident and Liberal Catholic Church bishop Bennett Burke also spoke against the facility, citing a recent statement from the Department of Homeland Security which estimated the potential number of beds in the facility at 1,300.

Burke claimed that Marana town manager Terry Rozema told him that MTC claimed that this number was inaccurate.

"I spent 30 years in the corporate world in a company that dealt with high-risk situations with a lot of legal responsibility, so I'm not a lawyer, but I know something about the law in cases like these," he said. "And a verbal statement is garbage compared to a number on an official federal government document."

He said Rozema declined a request to contact the DHS and ask for the number to be officially changed.

Councilmember Patti Comerford gave an impassioned speech in response to Shannon and Burke for more than 10 minutes, defending the council from what she called hateful attacks.

"Hate is a very vicious, vicious, mean word," she said. "And hate is kind compared to some of the things that I've seen and I've heard."

Comerford said she's left social media over the response that she had received regarding the facility.

"I had to go and apologize on my Facebook account because I haven't talked to people in a year," she said. "I was so afraid that no matter what I said, (it) would be taken out of context, turned around, and I didn't want them to see Marana like that, because that's not our Marana."

Comerford then turned her attention to the protesters seated in orange shirts, using their own attire to illustrate her point about the sting of hostile language.

"How would any of you like to talk to someone and (he) says, 'You know what? I hate those orange shirts. They're the most ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life, orange shirts.' What does that mean?," Comerford asked.

She said the people criticizing the town council over the ICE contract weren't being realistic.

"I've listened to you all for months and months. You are not the only solution," Comerford said. "You are not willing to work to do what it really takes to bring about change. You want it your way, and you want it that way, and you want it now."

Vice Mayor Roxanne Ziegler also responded to the two speakers.

"We're not supposed to be political up here, so I'm not, but I'm tired of (being called) a fascist and I'm tired of (being called) a communist," Ziegler said. "If you don't like what we do on the Town Council, I apologize for that, but this is who you have."

She told the speakers to contact the town's deputy director of development services and look at the contract that had been signed with MTC when the building was first constructed.

"There (are) numbers there that say how many individuals can be in that building and it's not 1,300," she said. "I get really upset when you don't tell the truth, or you don't know the truth. I'd be more than happy to sit down with you and talk about MTC and what I saw."

Burke pushed back from the audience, asking Ziegler directly if she was accusing him of lying. Ziegler said that wasn't what she meant.

The exchange was cut short by town attorney Jane Fairall, who stepped in to explain that this portion of the meeting didn't allow back-and-forth with audience members.

"What I'm trying to say to you is, come up and talk to us," Ziegler continued. "Talk to me. Talk to our staff. They will show you the agreement. It's not 1,300. It's not 1,330. It's 750. And you can't change that, because it's a contract that was signed years ago."

Benjamin DePue is a University of Arizona student and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact him at bdepue@arizona.edu.

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